HARRISBURG, PA – Tyler Glasnow made his second rehab appearance for the Altoona Curve on Monday night in Harrisburg. He was put on the disabled list after making a start for the Pirates on July 23rd against the Phillies where he only went three innings and left the game early.
Glasnow made his first rehab appearance last Sunday night in Altoona, and he was removed after three innings from that start after looking “uncomfortable” and making “unusual motions” with his throwing shoulder. It turned out that Glasnow’s shoulder was fine, and he was only removed to take extra precautions. After throwing two bullpen sessions this past week, he was schedule to throw four innings or 65 pitches again on Monday against the Harrisburg Senators.
Glasnow only ended up going 3 innings, allowing two hit and three walks while striking out six batters. He threw 57 pitches with 30 of them being strikes. He was taken out of the game because of his high pitch count, and he threw eight more pitches in the bullpen in a simulated game style to complete his 65 pitch night.
Glasnow said after the game that nothing felt weird or different in his throwing shoulder, and he was clicking on all cylinders tonight in his second rehab start.
“Everything felt good tonight,” Glasnow said. “I just went out there like normal, and the arm felt fine.”
With a few extra days between starts, Altoona Pitching Coach Justin Meccage said that Glasnow seemed a little out of sync at the beginning of the game, but he was able to hone it in for his second two innings of work.
“I thought in the first inning he was a little out of whack, but in the last two, he was really good,” Meccage said.
Glasnow struggled with his fastball command in that first inning, as he seemed to have a hard time repeating his delivery and looking a little mechanical at times.
“He just never really had a feel for his delivery [in the first],” Meccage said. “He really found it in the second and third innings. He was in the strike zone a lot more with all three pitches.”
When I asked Meccage what Glasnow needs to do to have a more repeatable delivery, he said that Glasnow needs to work on his tempo and simplifying his throwing motion. Being so long and lanky, executing completely through his delivery is the most difficult aspect of being a pitcher. As Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington said on Sunday, long pitchers “can sometimes get out of sync” extremely easily.
Otherwise, Glasnow just needed to get back into compete and execution mode after the first inning. To help with his execution, Glasnow did take a little velocity off of his fastball, and it helped with the command issues. I saw his fastball reach 94-95 MPH in the first inning, but it mostly stayed around 91-93 MPH for his final two innings.
There was a definite difference between his fastball velocity and command in the first inning compared to the second and third innings. While he struggled to locate it with a higher, typical velocity in that first inning, he did a much better job after the first two batters of the second inning while seemingly taking 2-3 MPH off of the pitch.
“In the last two innings, he got out of rehab mode and into compete mode,” Meccage said. “He got into the mode where he needed to execute pitches, and he backed off a little bit. Those last two innings, he had all three pitches going.”
Both Meccage and Glasnow said they were happy with his changeup tonight, as he threw seven or eight of them in the outing. He also threw about 15 curveballs and was able to keep the ball down for most of the night, burying many of them for a few swings-and-misses. He also got three called strikes on curve balls looking.
“With the breaking ball, I saw the shape that I’ve seen in the past tonight for the first time since I’ve seen him on TV in the big leagues and last week [in Altoona],” Meccage said.
Meccage went on to say that Glasnow had some release point problems with the curve ball, but he was extremely encouraged by the 12-to-6 shape of the pitch.
“I used it well later in the counts,” Glasnow said about his curve ball. “I’m just trying to have an unhittable curve ball, and get some swing-and-misses late in the count.”
As for those bullpens this past week, Glasnow noted that the Pirates wanted to keep him with Altoona because of his comfort and relationships with the Altoona staff and their pitching coach (Meccage). That familiarity was something the Pirates hoped would help him in the rehab process and in getting all of his pitches back in order.
“I’m just trying to get back out and get athletic again,” Glasnow said. “I’ve been with Meccage for two years, and they’re trying to just get me back out there with that familiar feeling. For my bullpens, he has just been watching me throw, and we’d talk about how I look.”
As for that last start in Altoona, Meccage again said that it was just something strange, as Glasnow has always been someone who shakes his arm and moves unconventionally. Now, they are moving forward from last Sunday.
“He was just getting back out into the game [during that start last Sunday], and some things just felt a little funky,” Meccage said. “He’s always been a shaker of the arm, but last time was just a little more than usual. I didn’t see any of that tonight other than the normal, so that is encouraging.”
The next step in the rehab process is not known yet, but Neal Huntington did say that he would throw a bullpen on Wednesday.
